Queen Anne furniture in the Governor's Council Chamber of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The chairs are attributed to William Savery. Queen Anne dressing table with cabriole legs. Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1730-1750 The Queen Anne style of furniture design developed before, during, and after the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain (1702–1714). Queen Anne furniture is "somewhat smaller, lighter, and more comfortable than its predecessors," and examples in common use include "curving shapes, the cabriole leg, cushioned seats, wing-back chairs, and practical secretary desk-bookcase pieces."[1] Other elements characterizing the style include pad feet and "an emphasis on line and form rather than ornament."[2] The style of Queen Anne's reign is sometimes described as late Baroque rather than "Queen Anne." The Queen Anne style began to evolve during the reign of William III of England (1689-1702),[5] but the term predominantly describes decorative styles from the mid-1720s to around 1760, although Queen Anne reigned earlier (1702-1714).
[6] "The name 'Queen Anne' was first applied to the style more than a century after it was fashionable."[4] The use of Queen Anne styles in America, beginning in the 1720s and 1730s, coincided with new colonial prosperity and increased immigration of skilled British craftsmen to the colonies.[9] Some elements of the Queen Anne style remain popular in modern furniture production. Walnut and burr walnut veneer side chair attributed to Giles Grendey, London, c. 1740 (Art Institute of Chicago) Curved lines, in feet, legs, arms, crest rails, and pediments, along with restrained ornament (often in a shell shape) emphasizing the material, are characteristic of Queen Anne style.[4] In contrast to William and Mary furniture, which was marked by rectilinearity (straight lines) and use of curves for decoration, Queen Anne furniture uses C-scroll, S-scrolls, and ogee (S-curve) shapes in the structure of the furniture itself.[4] In sophisticated urban environments, walnut was a frequent choice for furniture in the Queen Anne style,[4] superseding the previously dominant oak and leading to the era being called "the age of walnut."
[5] However, poplar, cherry, and maple were also used in Queen Anne style furniture. Ornamentation is minimal, in contrast to earlier 17th-century and William and Mary styles, which prominently featured inlay, figured veneers, paint, and carving. The cabriole leg is the "most recognizable element" of Queen Anne furniture.[5] Cabriole legs were influenced by the designs of the French cabinetmaker André-Charles Boulle[12] and the Rococo style from the French court of Louis XV.[13] But the intricate ornamentation of post-Restoration furniture was abandoned in favor more conservative designs, possibly under the influence of the simple and elegant lines of imported Chinese furniture. When decorative motifs or other ornamentation are used in Queen Anne-style furniture, it is often limited to carved scallop or shell or scroll-shaped motifs (sometimes in relief form and often found on the crest and knees),[4] broken and C-curves, and acanthus leaves.[14] The use of japanning is an exception to the general Queen Anne trend of minimal ornament.
[4] When used, japanned decoration was frequently in red, green, or gilt on a blue-green field. The tilt-top tea table was first made during the Queen Anne period in 1774. Queen Anne eventually was eclipsed by the later Chippendale style; late Queen Anne and early Chippendale pieces are very similar, and the two styles are often identified with each together. ^ A History of Interior Design ^ The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts ^ a b The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts ^ a b c d e f g h Early American Decorative Arts, 1620-1860: A Handbook for Interpreters ^ a b c Queen Anne style, Encyclopædia Britannica. ^ R. Davis Benn, Style in Furniture (Longmans, Green & Co., 1904), p. 70 ("The style was founded in the reign of William and Mary, and retained its popularity throughout those of Anne and George the First, and nearly the whole of that of George the Second; nevertheless 'Queen-Anne' it was dubbed"). ^ American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
^ In the 18th Century Style: Building Furniture Inspired by the Classical Tradition ^ Colonial Craftsmen and the Beginnings of American Industry ^ a b c Warman's Antiques & Collectibles 2013 ^ Beds and Bedroom Furniture ^ French Royal Furniture (c.1640-1792) ^ The Encyclopedia of Furniture ^ American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods 1725-1788 ^ Collections: Decorative Arts: Armchair (William Savery), Brooklyn Museum. ^ Good Furniture Magazine (Vol. 13), November 1919, p. 192. European design history, the Queen Anne style was the restrained English version of Rococo which originated in France in the court of Louis XV. In the early 18th century, following the shift in European taste from the monumental Baroque to a more intimate mode, Rococo, English cabinetmakers created their own interpretation of the style, which they named after England's Queen Anne (1702-1714). In terms of English design history, the Queen
Anne style in England was actually the Dutch style which was made the fashion by the influence of William of Orange, a Dutchman, and Mary, his wife, when they became King and Queen of England in 1689; and this influence was continued by Queen Anne during her reign from 1702 to 1714. The political history is a bit confusing: "The eighteenth century included the five great styles of English furniture, that is, the Queen Anne, the Chippendale, the Adam, the Hepplewhite and the Sheraton. It is for this reason termed the "Golden Age" of English G. Miller, Jr., American Antique Furniture, 1937, Vol. 1, p. 35 Photo source of Queen Anne portrait, on his page, which is found in the William & Mary College Wren House: Sara It was not until 10 years after Queen Anne's death that the style began to influence American furniture design. In America, it was one of Colonial (pre-Revolution) styles of furniture:Colonial: William and Mary
The Queen Anne style is characterized by delicacy, restrained decoration, and curvilinear forms. These curving lines are best seen in the cabriole leg, a new development of the period. animal's leg, the S-shaped cabriole leg gives furniture a more intimate, human quality than the massive turned legs of the William and Mary style. The cabriole leg is alsothe balance it achieves makes it possible to support heavy pieces of case furniture on slim legs, without the use of stretchers. Woods were richly finished and carved: walnut was most popular, along with cherry and maple; imported mahogany began to be favored toward 1750. An exotic foreign wood, mahogany, was introduced to America during the Queen Anne period. Of a rich brown hue and easily carved, it was an immediate favorite; however, because of its expense, most cabinetmakers continued to use native walnut and maple. The style relied heavily on beautiful woods and simple contours
for its effect, and for that reason it found great favor with buyers of modest means. The emphasis was on quiet dignity, with no special tricks of turning or carving. Queen Anne furniture was lower and smaller in scale than that of previous styles, and it was markedly more comfortable. surfaces were either undecorated or embellished with simple shell- or fan-shaped feet used during the William and Mary period were replaced by small, graceful pad, spade, or trifid (TRY fid) feet. Elegant batwing took the place of teardrop As social life became more and more under the control of women, special pieces were created for them: It is difficult to date the Queen Anne style precisely since it sometimes blended with the William and Mary and, later, Chippendale styles. Some Queen Anne pieces, particularly rural examples, were executed close to the time of the Revolution. Proportions Broad but delicate. Essential elements Curved and subtly carved parts.
Yoke-shaped top rails and solid vase-shaped splats on chairs; Feet: pad, slipper, trifid, and, later, claw-and-ball Secondary woods maple, pine, ash, cedar, beech, tulip, or othersUpholstered easy chair, sofa. and settee, often with arched backs. Tables: card, tea, drop-leaf, side, candlestand, and others. - Marvin D. Schwartz, American Furniture: Tables, Chairs, Sofas and Beds. Anne style of ARCHITECTURE, but note that the architectural term really refers to Queen Victoria and was popular in the late 19th century The most distinctive feature of the Queen Anne style of chairs is the cyma curve - an S shaped curve - which takes the place of the straight line ion the previousThis curve is present in almost every part of the chair, and particularly and always in the cabriole form of leg. The back of the chair is curved at the ends of the top and there often is a concave curve in the center. Sometimes, chairs had yoke-shaped top rails (two S shapes) with down-curving ends.
The splat rests upon the rear rail of the sea - , not upon a cross-rail above the seat as in a William and Mary caned Of great importance was the introduction of the cabrioleWhereas the turned William and Mary leg had a certain monumentality, the cabriole leg gave furniture a more human scale. is most representative of the new Queen Anne style. Besides cabriole legs, chairs had yoke-shaped top rails with down-curving ends, solid vase-shaped splats, and horseshoe-shaped seats, all curving yet restrained. is thought to have been an adaptation of a Chinese model. Front feet are the rounded Dutch, or club, Delicate carved details included the popular shell candlestands and tea tables were common, often on tripod cabriole bases and sometimes The graceful lines of restrained American pieces are often lacking in English examples that are their Old World equivalents. Americans used mahogany as well as cherry and a few other local woods for simple elegant furniture, while English cabinetmakers